Christina Garsten

Principal and Permanent Fellow, SCAS.
Professor of Social Anthropology, Uppsala University
Professor of Social Anthropology, Stockholm University

Christina Garsten became Professor of Social Anthropology at Stockholm University in 2008.
She served as Chair of the Department of Social Anthropology between 2002 and 2011. Since
2011 she has been Chair of the Executive Board of the Stockholm Centre for Organizational
Research (Score).

Christina Garsten’s research interests lie in organizational anthropology, with a special focus on
globalization processes, sociocultural dynamics and forms of governance. Her current research
focuses on the role of think tanks and policy professionals in the production and diffusion of
knowledge and ideology, in influencing political decision-making processes and in shaping global
governance. Particular attention is placed on the creation and use of future foresight activities and
scenario creation as part of knowledge creation. Christina Garsten has also contributed to research
on organizational culture and its transnational dynamics and to studies of organizational visions and
practices of enhanced transparency and accountability in transnational trade. She has studied corpo-
rate social responsibility (CSR), new forms of voluntary regulation of business and the perspectives
of corporate leaders on responsibility, ethics and profit. Garsten has also conducted extensive research
on policy change in the labour market, such as the emphasis on flexibility, employability and learning
and their implications for individual subjectivity and identity. A related research approach aims at study-
ing forms of sociality in organizations, with a particular focus on humour, play and boredom, and the
interplay of managerial control and individual agency. Some of her book publications reflecting these
research interests are Discreet Power: How the World Economic Forum Shapes Global Markets (with
Adrienne Sörbom; Stanford University Press, 2018); Power, Policy and Profit: Corporate Engagement
in Politics and Governance (ed. with Adrienne Sörbom; Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017); Makt utan
mandat (with Bo Rothstein and Stefan Svallfors; Dialogos Förlag, 2015); Makeshift Work in a Changing
Labour Market: The Swedish Model in the Post–Financial Crisis Era (ed. with Jessica Lindvert and
Renita Thedvall; Edward Elgar Publishing, 2015); Anthropology Now and Next: Diversity, Connections,
Confrontations, Reflexivity (ed. with Thomas Hylland Eriksen and Shalini Randeria; Berghahn, 2014);
Organisational Anthropology (ed. with Anette Nyqvist; Pluto Press, 2013); Workplace Vagabonds (Pal-
grave Macmillan, 2008); Ethical Dilemmas in Management (ed. with Tor Hernes; Routledge, 2009);
Organizing Transnational Accountability (ed. with Magnus Boström; Edward Elgar Publishing, 2008);
and Transparency in a New Global Order (ed. with Monica Lindh de Montoya; Edward Elgar Publishing,
2008).

Although a large part of her academic career has been at Stockholm University, Christina Garsten has
continuously benefitted from visiting positions at other universities. She has been Visiting Professor at
Georgetown University, ESCP Paris and the Centre de Sociologie des Organisations (Sciences Po) and
Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, the London School of Economics and Political Science, École
des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, the University of Cambridge, the European University Institute,
Copenhagen Business School (CBS) and the University of Leeds. In 2013 she was appointed Professor
of Globalization and Organization at Copenhagen Business School, and returned to her position at Stock-
holm University in 2015 whilst maintaining her affiliation with CBS. In 2000 she was also a Fellow at the
Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study.

Christina Garsten serves on academic boards and committees. She was previously Director of Score,
where she is now Chair of the Executive Board. She is a member of the Executive Board of the Ameri-
can Anthropological Association (AAA), the former Chair of the Board of the Swedish Anthropological
Association (SANT) and a member of the Board of the Society for Economic Anthropology. Christina
Garsten has been Chair of the Forum for Asian Studies and Chair of the Committee for Myrdal Lectures
at Stockholm University. She has been a member of the Board of the Swedish Foundation for Humanities
and Social Sciences (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond) and served as chair of one of the review panels (Panel
for Social Sciences) and a member of the Sector Committee for Research on Civil Society. Christina Gar-
sten has also chaired the Research Panel for Research on Civil Society at the Swedish Research Council.
She regularly serves on the European Commission’s research programme evaluation panels as an expert.
Garsten is a long-term member of AAA, the European Association of Social Anthropologists and the Euro-
pean Group for Organizational Studies. She is a member of the editorial committee of Organization, the
European Management Journal and the Scandinavian Journal of Management and has been a member
of the American Anthropologist editorial board. She was one of the founding members of the Journal of
Business Anthropology and has served on its editorial team. In 2020, Garsten was elected member of the
Royal Society of Sciences at Uppsala. In 2023, she was appointed member of the Swedish Society for
International Affairs.

Christina Garsten took office as Principal of SCAS in August 2018.

This information is accurate as of the academic year 2023-24.